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LAS VEGAS (AP) - Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies combined for 27 second-half points to lead BYU to a 73-68 win over San Diego in a West Coast Conference tournament quarterfinal game on Friday night.
Hartsock finished with 19 points, including a pair of free throws with 6.5 seconds to play, and Davies scored 16 for the third-seeded Cougars (25-7), who will play second- seeded Gonzaga (23-5) in Saturday's second semifinal.
Brock Zylstra added 12 points and Charles Abouo had 11 points and seven rebounds for BYU, playing in its first WCC tournament.
"Brandon, Noah and Brock have played a lot of tournament games," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I have a lot of confidence in these guys; that they can get things done."
The score was tied at 34 at halftime, but Hartsock scored eight points during the first 5:52 of the second half. Hartsock's jumper with 17:42 left gave the Cougars a 42-40 lead, and they stayed ahead from that point.
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"We knew we'd have to be the most aggressive team," said Hartsock, who sat out the Cougars' final regular-season game against Portland last week with a knee injury. "We had to come out and compete.
"Coming in, I knew I wasn't going to be 100 percent. I started to feel better as the game went on and the adrenaline started flowing."
Hartsock grabbed the rebound after San Diego missed a last-second shot and made the two foul shots to clinch the win.
"Our guys got more confident this afternoon in the shoot- around because they knew Noah was going to be back," Rose said.
Dennis Kramer led San Diego (13-18) with 17 points and nine rebounds. Christopher Anderson had 14 points and six assists, and Chris Manresa scored 13 points for the sixth- seeded Toreros, who beat Pepperdine on Thursday night.
Freshman Johnny Dee scored a season-high 30 points in the win over the Waves, but on Friday he finished with nine points on 3-for-11 shooting.
San Diego scored the last six points of the first half to force the tie. Anderson's three-point play and John Sinis' 3-pointer drew the Toreros even. Both teams shot 50 percent in the first half, but BYU finished the game at 55 percent while San Diego ended at 47 percent.
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Can't say enough about the gritty performance of Noah Hartsock. 19 points and 5 rebounds on one leg. BYU loses that game without him.
Hartsock and Davies were the big difference, with Hartsock making 6 of 9 shots after halftime and Davies 5 of 7 to lift BYU into a game against Gonzaga and send San Diego home.
"I anticipated (Hartsock) playing, he's the heart and soul of that team," San Diego coach Bill Greer said." I knew he'd do everything he could just to be out on the floor. He's a warrior. He's a very, very tough competitor."
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